Sen. Reid: 'Her talking' will be Angle's undoing

"Our focus groups that we've done — my staff tells me this — her statements, they can't believe that anyone would say that," Reid toldThe New York Times. "That's why most of our TV just has her talking."

Still, the Democrat insisted he was taking Angle seriously as an opponent.

"I'm not discounting her," Reid said. "In spite of the work we’ve done, people need to understand more about her. There are some unusual stands she has."

Polls have shown the Nevada Senate race remains a close contest.

Angle also gave a "rare" interview to the paper, during which she "spoke slowly and cautiously." She seemed "reluctant to engage, frequently reciting stock answers to questions.

She dismissed Reid's suggestion that she was too conservative.

“I'm sure that they probably said that about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin," she said. "And truly, when you look at the Constitution and our Founding Fathers and their writings, the things that made this country great, you might draw those conclusions: that they were conservative. They were fiscally conservative and socially conservative."